ShoeGuy: The Service Economy

ShoeGuys Give, Regardless Who Receives

You get what you pay for. So goes the old saw that implies that what appears to be a bargain isn’t always such a good deal. Some people need to turn that around a bit and pay for what they get.

ShoeGuy loves to hear from other ShoeGuys and Gals. We’re a tight little group of hybrid entrepreneur-athletes who do what we do because we love it, and we’re lucky enough (most of the time) to make a living at it.

And so it was a treat to hear from a ShoeGuy I’ll call "Stan" who hails from the Lone Star State of my birth, where he’s the co-owner of a specialty running retail operation.

"J.D., I enjoy your ‘matter of fact’ approach to explaining the inside workings of the running specialty shoe industry."

Thanks, Stanley. The most treasured kind words are those from my brethren in the biz. And matter-of-fact is what we try to do here, that is, tell the truth.

"How about addressing the ‘customer’ who wastes 30-60 minutes of your time and then obviously is headed out the door with a written or mental list of shoes to buy on the internet?"

Stan, my man, Shoe Guys the world over just jumped to their feet, skinny fists thrusts skyward, shouting, "Yeah!"

"We field a couple of these types a month…"

Only a couple a month? Not bad considering the hundreds of honest customers you serve every month who value your service enough and respect you enough to support your business with their hard-earned credit limits.

"We labor over their feet, run back to the storeroom a dozen times, explain all their needs after a slow-motion video analysis..."

Typical ShoeGuy. Obsessed with using an assortment of resources to gather information about a runner, analyze his biomechanical needs, and then relate those needs to a ridiculously huge selection of footwear styles on the wall.

And for each model on display, there are a couple of dozen pairs to back them up in the store room. Or more if the shoe comes in widths, as more and more of them do these days. And not far from that storeroom is a small, cluttered office where the due date clock is ticking on a stack of invoices for that inventory.

Then after Stan and his crew do all that work to determine the pretend-customer’s needs… "It’s rather irritating to then have them ask ‘Now, what is the name of this shoe, the size I need, the cost?’"

Give them a break, Stan. Maybe they just like to have their facts straight before making a buying decision.

"I have even had people pull out paper and a pen to ‘write it down so they can think about it.’"

Okay, so some pilferers of your intellectual assets are less subtle than others. At least they don’t ask you to e-mail that information to fly-by-nite-shoes-dot-com. Not yet, anyway.

"Maybe you can convey some shopper’s etiquette!"

Heck, Stan, I can give it a shot, but if a guy’s too cheap to pay a few extra bucks for your extraordinary customer service, he’s probably too cheap to buy this magazine. Funny thing is, these service snatchers think we don’t know what they’re doing. Amazing, isn’t it, that someone will sacrifice his dignity to save a few dollars?

This free enterprise system we so enthusiastically embrace is based on the relationship of supply, demand, and price. If a runner demands a shoe at a certain price and can find a supply of them somewhere, I say more power to him. I really don’t care where people buy their shoes.

But like you, Stanley, I do care about theft of services. Local ShoeGuys invest heavily to deliver those services. In addition to the cost of the shoes that customers try on, we pay the salaries of the employees who analyze biomechanical needs, pay rent on the store, taxes on the business, utility bills, advertising bills, business permit fees, insurance, supplies, and the list goes on. This stuff isn’t a free public service—our customers pay for it when they buy our products.

And since we do such a good job, 99 out of 100 people who take advantage of all the above are absolutely delighted to pay for it. As long as we hold up our end, and continue to do the job our customers demand, the business will be there. We can’t let a handful of scoundrels sway us from our mission anymore than you would cancel a camping trip to West Texas because there are a few rattlesnakes out there.

And there are some dot-coms who work just as hard as we do to present the merchandise well and provide good service (albeit not the face-to-face variety you and I like) and charge a fair price. Where else are running consumers in Shoe-Guyless places like Keokuk, Lamesa, and Wrightsville Beach going to find a decent selection of running shoes?

So, Stanley, let’s continue to be there when our customers need us, with a smile on our face, concern for their needs in our heart, and a passion for their success as our goal. Those cheap-o dot-coms can’t put us out of business unless we allow them to do so.